Nick Clegg unveils Lib Dem plan to make Britain energy independent

Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has said a mission "on the scale of the Apollo moon landings" is needed to end Britain's dependence on foreign energy supplies.

Nick Clegg: The real problem is that our energy mix is not green enough and we're over-dependent on oil and gas from parts of the world that aren't very reliablePhoto: PA

By Jon Swaine

1:57PM BST 21 Aug 2008

Under a Liberal Democrat plan to increase greatly the production of wave, wind and solar power, Britain could become a net exporter of renewable energy by 2050, Mr Clegg said.

He demanded the Government scrap plans for new nuclear power stations and establish a "renewables delivery authority" to oversee a "complete revolution" in power policy.

"The Government has spooked everyone into thinking that we need nuclear by saying there's going to be a terrible energy gap - the lights are going to go out in the middle of the next decade," Mr Clegg said.

"There's actually no evidence that's the case at all. They've raised the wrong problem in order to push the wrong solution.

"The real problem is that our energy mix is not green enough and we're over-dependent on oil and gas from parts of the world that aren't very reliable."

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Mr Clegg said that energy companies should be forced to spend £500m a year improving the insulation of Britain's housing stock, and that the use of electricity meters must become more widespread.

Earlier this month, Ed Mayo, the Government's new consumer champion, said British households were having their "pockets picked" by foreign energy firms subsidising customers in their own countries.

The war between Russia and Georgia has also heightened fears that through their dependency on gas and coal from the region, Britain and the rest of Western Europe could be held to ransom by Eastern European suppliers.

Mr Clegg is also proposing new green and wealth taxes in order to to fund a 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax, and plans to cut government spending by £20bn.